Zipperheads and Blueeyes
by eggrolljunkie99
Summary: Tin Man A collection of drabbles, post and pre and during the series. GlitchxDG
1. Memories of Apple Trees

DG paced. She paced and paced and paced till Cain pulled her down into a seat and kept his arm around her to keep her seated.

"He'll be fine." The Tin Man said patting her shoulder.

"Yeah but this is like Brain-surgery!" She protested.

"Yes, but they know what they're doing, he's not the only one who had his brain removed by the Witch's Alchemists." Azkadelia winced at the comment, but got over it when her mother grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently. Raw, on DG's other side, patted her knee and turned back to stare at the door where just on the other side, one of his friends was getting his brain put back in.

DG, unable to keep staring at the door and imagine what the faint, shrill, whirring sounds were, instead chose to… to look out the large window at a zeppelin cruising by on it's slow journey… Glitch once told her about how he created a propulsion system in them so they didn't require dangerous, highly-flammable gases to float…

Okay, window-not a good idea. She turned to look down the pastel, brightly lit hallway leading to the room. A half-bidden memory from her childhood came floating back to her.

_She was five, and he was just turned twenty-six. _

_Ambrose was a straight-laced man with a silly haircut that belied his serious demeanor. His crisp pressed coats, finely tailored with fancy embroidery and shiny buttons usually failed to do their duty in attracting a female to dance with him at parties and balls, but he did look every bit the Advisor to The Queen should. Oh he was finicky and he hated mud and other such fun, earthy, things, and was constantly suggesting Finishing School for both the princesses. But he was okay. If a bit stiff. But he played tea party and danced with them, letting the small girls stand on his feet, and hunching over so they could grasp his shoulders, whenever there was a ball coming and the two girls needed to brush up on their dancing. But all in all he was remote, usually making odd, complicated toys for the girls and then simply leaving them to the toys to go about his business, assuming the toys kept the two out of trouble and harm. More often or not, the toys did the exact opposite._

_DG was five, and Az was sick. So DG decided to entertain herself in the gardens. Last night had been a huge rainstorm and most of the gardens were flooded. She knew this because Ambrose was complaining that he had finally got Miss Pembcot to agree to go on an afternoon picnic in the royal gardens with him that day and over half of them were floating away with the over flow. DG didn't understand why Miss Pembcot or Ambrose would deal with each other, both of them were boring stuffy people, they might bore each other to death, and while he was dull, DG did not want Mr. Ambrose to die. _

_Finally finding a relatively water-free spot in the garden, for Ambrose had warned her that snakes have been known to get caught in undertow and bite unsuspecting crossers of flowing water, DG put her shoes on the dry stone walkway of the gardens and walk into the planted orchard. _

_The Mud squished interestingly between her toes and made funny sucking sounds with each step. Her dress dragged in the slime on top of the peanut butter-thick earth staining the bottom inches brown. _

_All of the fruit in the small orchard were barren. The rush of water having swept brittle branches, leaves, and fruit far away to wherever such waters lead. Looking up at the skeletal trees, at the very top branch, one red apple shown, just hanging there waiting for the small princess to climb up and grab it._

_Grabbing a knob on the tree she managed to push herself up and grab the branch, her toes found the miniscule stub where a branch once grew, and she heaved herself up further. Reaching for the next branch, just slightly out of her reach, her muddy toes slipped and she skinned her knee painfully on the branch. Surprised she let go and fell down into the mud with a loud messy splat._

_Before a proper crying could commence, before tears even reached her dress, she was in strong warm arms and being carried quickly to the infirmary wing. Where the castle physician would bandage her bloodied knee and give her a candy. Teary blue eyes stared up into the disheveled muddy face of her Mother's most trusted advisor. _

DG giggled slightly at the memory. He had chastened her good for that on, while he himself put the bandage on her knee.

"What's so funny kid?" Cain nudged her.

"Oh, I was just remembering when I was five, and I had hurt myself. Ambrose had carried me all the way here, and bandaged my knee, chiding me for ruining my dress and hurting myself, while he was giving the staff a heart attack, dripping mud all over the place." DG, Azkadelia, and Lavender all laughed at the memory, it was quite infamous.

"Eh, sounds like something Glitch would do." DG smiled goofily at the Tin Man.

"Not Ambrose, he hated mud."

-

Silence rung for a few more moments before the door opened.

The Doctor was a balding pudgy man dressed in a long white coat and rubber gloves up to his shoulders. Either, his profession, or something outside the medical field, had left the man almost unbearably nervous. If it wasn't for his excellent skills, he probably would have been prompted to return to his family farms, or some other less stressful occupation.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news." The Doctor rubbed his rubber-gloved hands nervously. "The operation was somewhat a success. And at his request we removed the zipper and there will be little to no scarring… but… The Alchemists didn't take proper care of his brain, and there is extensive internal damages done by the probes and whatnot, so he will probably never return to full function. It's as if he still doesn't have half his brain…" DG's stomach dropped into her shoes. "But we anticipate, with help, he might be able to function in society once more, and possibly even resume inventing." There was a small release of breaths. But no one said anything.

"Can we see him?"

"He's resting now, your highness. Perhaps tomorrow." He said and turned away to check up on his patient.

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Nights in the O.Z. took some time to get used to. On quite a few nights DG found sleep to be impossible. Tonight was such a night. Pulling herself up, the younger princess donned a thick green robe to counter the cool night air. The moon, almost as bright as a sun, what with the amount it receives from the two actual suns, lit the gardens beneath her. The smell of ripe apples and fall-blossoms made her smile until she spotted a bandage-wrapped head underneath a very familiar tree.

_What the hell…_ Quickly she threw on a pair of outdoor slippers and rushed out her room to the gardens her room over looked.

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"You know… you're supposed to be in bed resting." DG said walking around the tree to sit at his side as he bit into the flesh of an apple, a small pile of cores lay on his other side. He chewed and swallowed the fruit before speaking.

"I know, but I had to get out… You know," he said, looking at the tree "this has always been my favorite thinking spot in the gardens. I remember… though why… escapes." DG giggled softly before leaning over to hug her friend.

"Glit-Ambrose, I am so sorry." He placed a hand on her outstretched elbow and took another bite from his apple.

"Please princess, Ambrose is gone. I cannot pretend to be what I am no longer." His voice belied what his face tried to imply.

She hugged in tighter in lieu of an appropriate response. And even he forwent protocol and wrapped his other arm around her. They stayed like that for a minute before he pulled back and finished off his apple.

"You still are Ambrose, even if you can't remember everything, and are liable to forget it when you do; your actions are what he lives through." DG finally spoke, surprising herself with how diplomatic and regal she sounded. Glitch snorted.

"Believe me Princess, from what I remember; Ambrose and I were nothing alike." DG stared at him, her blue eyes piercing through the darkness to meet his own dark orbs.

"When I was five, there had been a huge rainstorm that had flooded out most of the gardens, and took almost all the apples with it. Except for one, it was on a high branch on this very tree. I trudged through the mud to climb up to reach that apple, except I slipped and scraped my knee and fell. You ran across the gardens, tracked mud all over yourself, to carry me to the infirmary, and then wouldn't let anyone else take care of me, insisting that it was the least you could do for letting me hurt myself. Later that afternoon, I found that apple, waiting for me." She rested her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"Heh, I wish I remembered that." He said running his arm around her shoulders again.

The two stayed like that all night, and in the morning when the Queen and her Consort walked the gardens in their usual morning ritual, they found the two surrounded by a pile of apples, sound asleep in each others embrace.


	2. Dance with me

Azkadelia and Lavender sat on chairs watching as DG struggled through the ancient dance of the Royal House, giggling like school girls as the dance practice had to be broken up once again due to DG's poor crushed toes.

DG grabbed her slipper clad foot and bounced up and down on her other one chanting "Ow" over and over again.

"Sorry princess." Cain said shifting from foot to foot trying to comfort the raven-haired girl as she bounced about on her non-swollen foot. Az laughed so hard she nearly fell out of her chair. Ahamo stood outside the ball room, wanting to comfort his daughter, but had been banished from the room after he managed to step on all ten of her toes at once and caused her to poke herself in the eye, and then fall on her face…

"Perhaps, it is time the Princess took a break… before she looses her use of her toes permanently." Lavender managed after she finally was able to stop laughing. Taking the offered opportunity, DG fled the room as fast as her hobble allowed.

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_Gotta hide from evil parents forcing ridiculous dance on me!_ She chanted in her head as she quietly limped down into the basements where she could hide amongst the various bobbles and whatnot.

The Stairs were painful and slow, and more then once she panicked when she heard footsteps echo in the stairway. But she made her way to the underground rooms, were more often or not one could find Glitch studying something he had built years ago. Today was no exception, though he seemed to be sulking for some un-explainable reason.

Words, a phrase repeated in her brain as she took the stairs one at a time, clutching to the banister, Cain's words, whispered inappropriately close in her ear: "_He's always wanted to dance, he told me once, but girls never ask him."_

"Glitch! Can you help me? I can't walk too well right now!" She called down the few stairs left and into the gloomy basement. Moments later, covered in grease, and furiously scrubbing at his hands, the man came.

"Princess! Shouldn't you be learning how to dance upstairs, for the up coming ball?"

"Cain kept stepping on my toes because he would move too close to me." She wrinkled her nose at the thought of two bodies doing that much exertion and being that close to each other. Glitch frowned, and the look on his face made DG's stomach wiggle. "I think my toes are broken…"

"Wh-what? Your toes are broken?! Then what in the name of the O.Z. are you doing on stairs, let alone walking?" He wrapped an arm underneath hers and hoisted her off her bad foot. "Come on, we need to get you to a bench." DG was surprised at how strong the thin man was. She supposed it was from his years wandering around the O.Z. with only half a brain.

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His "office" was a dank, poorly lit, concrete box of some hundred feet squared. Here and there were some half finished, or half re-assembled contraptions of unimaginable purposes. A chemistry set bubbled and glowed from the light of various Bunsen-burners heating various substances of a whole array of colors.

"No wonder you're pale." DG murmured as she brushed a tuff of black hair out of her face.

"Hmm? What was that?" he pretended not to hear as he searched his desk for a particular gadget in a pile of gadgets. "AHA!" he pulled something that resembled a "Coldheat™" DG had seen back on earth in an infomercial, out of the pile; not paying attention to the bits of machinery that fell and broke on the floor.

"What are you going to do? Sauder my toes?"

"What ever gave you that idea princess?" he looked completely interested and confused at the same time. DG resisted the urge to hug him with that particularly endearing look on his face.

"Ah, back on earth, there was this thing called a Coldheat, where it heated the metal you wanted to melt, but became cool to touch when you lifted it from the metal… though I have no idea how it did that." Glitch looked interested as he pulled a short stool from out of somewhere in the gloom, and sat in front of her, pulling her injured foot into his lap.

"Really, sounds fascinating, I would love to go to earth one day and learn about their technologies." He pulled her shoe off very gently, and grabbed her ankle to keep her foot from moving too much.

"Maybe one day I'll take you there and show you around." She shifted, not entirely comfortable but not uncomfortable either.

He pointed the instrument at her bruised and swollen toes and a bluish light came out and illuminated her bones through her skin.

"Well princess, there are no broken bones, only one very slight crack on your little toe and mild to moderate bruising on most of them, except your toe right here." He indicated it with a skeleton-bared finger. "This one has severe bruising and will hurt like the dickens, but will heal in about a week or so." DG gapped.

"But the ball is tomorrow! And I have to dance that stupid royal-dance-thingy…"Glitch placed her foot on top of the stool he just vacated got up to search his desk again.

"Last week I smashed my fingers with a hammer on accident." DG winced. "The doctor gave me a jar of this ointment that numbed the pain and promoted healing while being used. Other wise I'd say stay off your foot for about three weeks, with your damage. There is no substitute for rest, but, he said, this would help since you can't stop using your hand for prolonged periods. I'd imagine it would work just fine for your foot." The man searched until he found something else he had been looking for quite some time.

"Oh, there you are!" Task completely forgotten, he took whatever he had in his hands over to the chemistry lab and began working on it. Smiling at her friend's antics DG cleared her throat gently.

"OH! Princess! What are you doing down here? Shouldn't you be upstairs practicing with Cain and your mother?"

"Glitch, you were looking for the ointment the doctor gave you last week." She reminded him gently.

"Oh, I forgot again didn't I?" He sounded rather upset with himself over it.

"Don't' worry about it."

"Okay." He smiled and went back to experimenting with his object.

"Glitch."

"Oh right, right… sorry… so dreadfully sorry." DG smiled at his back as he riffled through papers till he found the small jar.

"Here ya go princess!" He shifted back and for between doing it himself, and having her do it, before he handed over the jar. DG opened the pungent medicine and scooped a glob of the white cream out onto her injury. She could feel the blissfully numbing chill sooth her swollen digits.

"Much better." She sighed. Glitch stood there beaming at her, before he shook his head.

"Er, princess. Not to be rude or anything, but I gotta lot of things to do, and you're very distracting, I mean not that… I mean… I mean."

"I get it Glitch, you need to focus."

"Yeah." He said weakly. Slowly, she managed to get her shoe back on and started shuffling to the door.

"OH! PRINCESS!" he called after her, "Uhm, if you would like, I… happen to be very good at dancing… and… if you would like, I could try to teach you after dinner…"

"Ball room, third floor, after dinner, saayyyy… ten o'clock?"

"Ye-ah."

"It's a date." Glitch's stomach flipped about in his mid-section.

"Wear soft shoes, and a short skirted dress!" He called after her. She gave him a look and he stumbled over his words about it not being what it sounded like.

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DG stood in the ball room, in the moonlight, fiddling with the just above knee-length hem of her pale blue dress. Her shoes, she had looked for the softest shoes she could find in her possession, and had to settle on a pair of soft, silky red ballet-slippers and had spent the last ten minutes lacing them up to her knees. Her hair had been pulled into twin tails on either side of her head, and had been tied off with blue ribbons by Az, who had said she looked so cute Glitch might jump her. To which DG harrumphed and crossed her arms in a pout.

Out of the pit section, designed much like a theater so the musicians could be heard to the fullest effect, but not seen, came the exact melody she was expected to dance to. Turning to look at it she was mildly surprised to see the, oddly enough, incredibly athletic Glitch jump onto the lip of the pit, and swing his arms in a circle to try to regain balance. Fearing she might have to scrape her last-chance dance-instructor off of the instruments below she stepped forward to try and race to him and keep him from falling. But before the second step could come, he managed to right himself and walked off the edge, with a slow grace she never noticed before.

He seemed to dance as she stood there drinking in the rare, even for Glitch who was more inclined to be casual than most people the princess knew, sight of his outlandish clothes. A sleeveless black shirt clung to his surprising muscles, and a pair of very loose matching pants that seemed to barely be able to cling to his narrow hips. She also noticed, somewhat distantly, he was shoeless. His wild hair, no-longer parted by the cruel zipper, and now fully re-grown over the area where it the damned thing rested, seemed somehow to complete the look. DG took a small swallow and walked over to him, completely aware of her less than graceful sauntering.

"Ready to begin Princess?" He asked, more then obviously comfortable on the dance floor then he did back in his work-labs. Some small part of DG registered that the confidant and slightly cocky Ambrose was more dominant now than his goofy Glitch half.

Gently she extended her hand to fit it inside his outstretched one. and with an expected tug, they began.

Quickly the world around them blurred as she spun and stepped in time to the music. The pain in her toes completely forgotten as his arm wound around her waist drawing her near, her heart thudding from the exercise and something indefinable. He pushed her away spinning before he pulled her back. They were going much faster than her practices, as fast as the actual dance is supposed to be, maybe a little faster. Hand-in-hand they whirled around, their eyes never leaving each other. Instinctively their feet found the proper places to go as the music rose in volume, and suddenly the whirlwind became a fight for dominance. Feet stepped forward, pushing bodies back; back and forth they never lost each other as their arms wound around their partner. Their breath mingled from the exertion and their eyes remained locked, trying to read a million things, trying to say a million things their bodies seemed to know naturally. Finally the finale came and Glitch, holding DG's had pushed her out, spinning her along his arm to pull her back so she pressed her body against his, her other hand resting right over his heart. His arms wrapped intimately around her. Their chests heaved from the dance, their eyes wild with adrenalin.

"Bravo! Oh Bravo! I knew you could do it DG darling! Bravo!" Lavender clapped her hands, as both she and Az stood their in their night gowns watching to two. DG and Glitch sprung apart as if burned, both red-faced. Az smirked, at her little sister as she tried to regain her breathing.

"Oh shut up." She muttered as her sister escorted her back to her rooms, teasingly hinting at her trying to go to Glitch's. The two understood her hinting, but the Queen seemed to have missed it.

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Because I didn't say it last time. I don't own Tin Man.

And I will be going on a three week hiatus. Because next week I leave for a cruise, and the two weeks after that are major holidays.

Expect the next chapter-thing sometime early January.

I am open to suggestions for themes, cause damn this is harder then I thought it would be...


	3. synapses don’t fire right…

Oh… The Man blinked. How did he get there? And why was that young woman yelling?

She was rather fetching to be truthful. She had long wavy dark hair…

Something triggered in some corner of his mind, but before he could mentally grasp it, it vanished to the missing half of his lobes.

_Oh! I hope she doesn't turn around, I think I forgot my name again…_

He tried to move his arm to scratch his head. Oh it itched horribly! Something stiff was stuck on his head, he knew it! Those little ankle-biters probably stuck something on it!

Hey wait a minute… he couldn't move his arm… he couldn't move the other one… move the other one… move the other one…

"I told you! My name's DG and I'm from Kansas! I don't know anything about some dumb Sorceress or anything!" She shouted.

Huh… DG that's a funny name… Hey wait! He used to know someone called DG… she was… nope… though he had something there. Damn…

Hey! There's a girl there! At least he has company… better then the last one… the last one was male… though he forgot why female company was better then male's… probably because men are rude pigs!

Oh… Wait… wasn't he male? The man tried to move his arms so he could check…

Hey! He couldn't move his arms!

Oh look! There's a girl! Maybe she could help him figure out why he couldn't move his arms…

"I told you I don't know anything!" She insisted again. And the tiny little men ignored her pleas and continued to interrogate her.

Ha! They look funny… all short and covered in leaves… he wondered who they were. Finally the funny little men left with DG, was that her name? He couldn't remember… it sounded right… shouting after them about being "out of their tiny minds!" Oh shit she was turning around! He didn't remember his name! How ever was he to introduce himself?

She seemed startled… but not as startled as he felt… he knew… he knew…

He knew her… somehow…

He knew those eyes…

He had to…

"I'm called Glitch… on account of sometimes… my synapses don't fire right…"


	4. Ribbons: the latest fashion craze

Since the rebuild of the OZ, and the subsequent trial, and later acquittance, of its new Queen Azkadelia, Glitch found himself in a glorious era of peace.

DG, found guilty of the release of the spirit of the ancient witch, was given a rather light sentence of community service, which was in light of her being a child at the time, and her deeds which led to the spirits ultimate destruction, and publicly renounced her claim to the throne in place of her original sentence. The Former Queen Lavender and the rest of the group sat back and patted themselves on the back for a rather successful scam. And life went on. The rumors, started by Lavender herself, that the whole trial was staged, did it's job in keeping people from question how simple things had gone for the family, and no one questioned the matter further, dismissing it as merely a malicious rumor designed to break Azkadelia's new found, though very fragile, confidence. And the new queen basked in a daily praise from both courtiers and prospective suitors.

DG had taken Glitch's, for he asked people he was very close too to call him as such, old position as advisor and dearest friend to the queen. And Az never was allowed to get a big head.

Glitch returned to his passion of inventing and spent the days he wasn't chasing children around, creating wonderful and strange new things to entertain his growing brood.

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"Daddy! Daddy! Look what Mama bought me!" His youngest daughter shouted through the high piled shelves that made up the walls to his labyrinthine office-lab. Glitch jumped at the piercing call of the young eight year old, but soon his face split into a large grin as he dropped his tools to scoop up May.

"Oh my! Look at the pretty little girl! She couldn't possibly be _my_ daughter!" The young princess dressed in yellow giggled.

"DAaaADDYYY!" she whined "You're wrinkling my dress!" The pout on her face was just too adorable.

"Sorry my little flower." Gently he put her down on the ground, and she busied herself with smoothing out wrinkles she only made worse. Glitch looked his daughter up and down, finally able to see the dress properly, she looked adorable in her yellow dress, but there were far too many ribbons. No doubt an influence of Azkadelia who loved to over accent things with ribbons and bows and such other frivolities.

"Sorry father, I tried to keep an eye on her, but it's near impossible to keep up with the little bundle of energy in heels." Glitch looked up to see his eldest daughter, Annemarie, named so because DG had said she always loved that name, dressed in a beautiful but simple, dress of emerald green, the royal house's traditional color of the eldest daughter.

"It's okay; she takes after her mother in many ways." Glitch laughed. "You look beautiful dear; I'm sure that snooty Prince Whatshisname is going to trip over himself when he sees you." Annemarie colored slightly before responding in a stiff voice.

"His name is Prince Fedor. And I am not interested in him." Glitch grinned.

"Oh, sure you are, that's why you're blushing." He teased. She colored even more.

"I am not! Ooh… gr." Her brow darkened in anger before her face went serene again. "Oh May! You should help Daddy get ready for the ball tonight! I mean look at his hair! It's dreadful!"Glitch paled as May climbed and wiggled her way back into her father's hold.

"Anne's right daddy! Your hair's all messy! Don't worry I can fix it!" Behind little demon-child currently untying canary yellow ribbons out of her dress and inching her hands closer to his mop of curly hair, Annemarie's face twisted into a satisfactory smile of the cat who ate the bird _and_ the mouse and washed it down with a pint of cream.

"Sadist." He grumbled to her. Her laughter echoed all the way up the stairs.

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DG paced, her husband and daughter should have showed up by now. Annemarie had already gone out to stall for them. And the servants not currently doing rounds in the ball room were combing the castle for the missing two. Making up her mind to find them she left to the one place she knew they were.

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_Oooh! If he got grease on May's brand new dress I'll kill him!_ She thought as she quickly rounded corners, wishing the age old wish for her converse, she would have been there by now. Round the final corner and down the stairs to his labyrinth-laboratory-office and through the well memorized pathways to his desk.

When she finally arrived at her destination, she stopped, her anger melting away at the sight.

There he was, with May on his lap, sound both sound asleep, and drooling. Her ribbons hopelessly entangled in his hair. DG bit her lip. She didn't want to wake them and desperately wished for a camera. Sighing she walked forward and gently shook his shoulder.

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Needless to say, Prince Ambrose made quite a stir with his fashion statement. And much to his embarrassment, at the next ball, everyone had ribbons in their hair.


	5. Part two of Dance with me

"Having fun?" Az asked as her and the younger sister met up during one of their rounds of the balls room.

"This corset is killing me, my toes still hurt from when Cain stomped them yesterday and I haven't seen any of my friends at all." Dg ground out. She really hated these kinds of events; the food was never to her liking, god she wanted a chili-cheese dog and a Pepsi right now, the clothes were always stifling and binding, DG never understood the point of a themed dress-party and thought corsets were the evilest invention ever made, she never got the hang of drinking wine and refused to take any incase she would become drunk, the list of everything being wrong went on… and mostly, at the very top of her list… not a single person asked her to dance, not that she really wanted to, but the thought of _someone_ caring that she was attended for the evening wouldn't have been unwelcome. DG scowled as once again a Lord Something-or-other led Azkadelia, who had promised to spend the evening with her sister, onto the dance floor.

Sighing DG wondered out of the warm room to the cool night.

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The stars where beautiful… The moon was barely a silvery sliver so the shadows seemed much deeper, much darker. Like a luxurious velvet. And above her head the stars filled the sky, each shining with their own radiance. Dg sighed and wondered if her Great Ancestor felt like this during her first ball.

Like a lost little girl trapped in a bubble with laughing goblins…

DG shook her head. She really shouldn't have watched that damned David Bowie movie, trying to get a feel for what a actual ball was like… though the tights… oh god the tights… what a glorious invention for the male species….

The young woman became infinitely grateful for the cool breeze that fanned her heating check as she thought of Glitch in tights.

Still occupied with her thoughts on men and tights and dances, she failed to notice a certain Tin Man approach her.

"DG?" Cain's voice broke her thoughts rather partially, and the Princess turned to her friend, her mind still on the concept of tights and then took in the image of Cain, dressed in a set of her Father's borrowed finery… the resulting image well… She didn't know whether to laugh or be horrified… Not that he wasn't a good looking male but… he was such a fatherly figure to her in so many ways… needless to say her mental recreation of men in tights was ruined for the day…

"Yes Cain?" She asked innocently, banishing any traces of the mental disturbance from her mind.

"Uh… well… I… I ain't so good at dancing the royal fancy dances and all…" He rolled his ever present fedora in her hands, it clashed with the austere outfit… but the Tin Man made it work. "So I was hoping you'd take someone else out with you onto the dance floor for your Royal dance-thing." He shuffled around… looking embarrassed. DG smiled a fond smile.

"Sure thing Cain, I understand, I'm not so great at it either, so I won't pressure you into it… Could you find Glitch for me and ask him to come see me out here?" Cain smiled a relieved smile and left to do his favorite Princess's bidding.

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Cain wondered through the throng or courtiers, half listening to the conversations of the drunk courtiers as they slurred half formed ideas and thoughts. Or the Gossiping Ladies who all hid behind their fans and whispered "scandalous" things to each other about such and such. Past the shy people gathered around the refreshment tables like flies to ease their terrible sense of self-created loneliness with finger sandwiches and copious amounts of steadily less watered down wine. And quickly past the couples so involved in each other they only had time to make it to the back of the darkened corners. Out the doorway of the ballroom. Down the hallway. And down the several flights of stars to where the music from the ball was drowned out by another.

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"Glitch!" the Widower banged on the door. The Music cut and the sound of frantic scurrying greeted his ears, and soon a flushed and scowling Glitch threw open the door.

"What?" He snapped, his grease covered overalls and smudged cheeks telling Cain part of the story of what his mental friend had been up to. His suspiciously clean hands and blush told of part of the story yet to be discovered… the music was a foretelling clue.

"No, the question is, what are you doing down here when DG is up at the ball?" The hue the pale man had gone was a big indicator.

"I… I don't have any clothes appropriate for the theme…" Glitch protested as the gruff man barged into his friend's lair. The former Zipper-head immediately went to stand in front of a large cabinet where a lacy blue sleeve, the exact color of DG's dress poke out of the doors. Cain grinned knowing now exactly what the inventor was up to.

"You're pathetic…" The blonde teased. Glitch, knowing protesting would make the shame deeper gave up and sat down dejectedly. His hands buried deep in his unruly hair.

"Cain... I I can't go out there… I can't face her- them, I mean them…" Glitch turned red.

"Sure you can… hell I bet she- I mean them, wouldn't even mind the grease and overalls."

"Yes they would!" Glitch protested. "I mean why would they want a grease-covered, socially awkward, half-wit?"

"Okay… I lost track are we still talking about DG here?" Cain teased. "Because you know… I think she has a fetish for grease…" Glitch immediately colored a vibrant red at that comment.

"CAIN!" He yelped. Cain merely laughed and shrugged.

"You still have some time to change…"

"Cain, I'm not going." Glitch said resolutely.

"Oh yes you are. Because our favorite little princess requested your presence, and if you don't move your ass and get presentable, I'll drag you there kicking and screaming leaving a grease trail all the way there." Cain promised, grinning and cracking his knuckles. Glitch gulped.

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DG swallowed a nervous lump in her throat. It was almost time for the Royal Dance to begin… and neither Cain nor Glitch had been seen recently.

"Ladies and Gentlemen… it is time for the Royal Dance! Will everyone clear the dance floor for the Royal Family and their partners?" A page had announced, ridding the floor of any dancers. Dg swallowed another nervous lump as she entered the floor, her partner noticeably not present.

_I'm going to kill them both… _ She thought viperously, as a gossiping woman started to giggle when no one came forth to claim the Princess' hand in the dance. The orchestra would not start until she had a partner, and no one was coming forth. Her cheeks burned and slowly her eyes started to tear up. DG hung her head to avoid letting the court see her embarrassment.

Gently a hand cupped her down turned cheek and tiled her head up to a familiar masked face.

"Sorry I'm late; I had to scrub about a gallon of grease off." Glitch said nervously. Dg couldn't even reply she was so happy. The Conductor, finally noting the presence of the youngest princess' partner, clicked his baton and the music started.

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Like before the familiar tug kicked off another heady whirl of emotions. Slowly they went, this time in synchronism with the rest of the dancers. Dg could smell the soap and grease Glitch had used prior to the ball. Gently he held her, his warm arms wrapped around her thin frame, almost pulling her off her hurt toes and leaving her to float in a magic strange, yet so maddeningly familiar, to her. As the music went on DG lost herself, pressed so deliciously up against the man. His dark eyes swallowing her blue ones in an ocean of night, till she had no memory of ever having been able to breathe. By instinct alone the couple picked up the que from the music and everything became fire and ice, singing through there veins in a sweet song that only their hearts could hear. They went oblivious to how scandalously close their bodies had entwined themselves. Only conscious of the person in their arms. Faster and faster their blood ran, as their feet lead them in a dance that was their entire universe. Her fingers grazed his clothed back leaving small trails of fire in their wake as his fingers stroked her waste. Her mouth sliding so close to his throat she could taste his skin without even unsealing her lips. He spun her out and pulled her back, almost sweating. She panted as she pressed herself dangerously hard against him once more before parting. The whispers and gasps finally filling their ears again as they left the dance floor.

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HOLY SHIT!! AN UPDATE!! WOOT!! Yeah… ahem… anyways… DON'T YOU GUYS EVER LET ME GO THIS LONG WITHOUT UPDATING THIS AGAIN!!


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